Like jumbo jets on the runway, Hollywood’s summer movies are lined up, ready for takeoff. Will they hit any turbulence?

If the movie business had a “fasten your seat belt” light, it was certainly flashing last summer. A number of high-profile films tanked while onlookers including Steven Spielberg warned of a coming “implosion” for an increasingly blockbuster-bound Hollywood. A kind of blood sport took hold where some took glee in the downturns of Hollywood’s roller coaster ride — even though the summer’s box office ended up setting a record high.

“’Blood sport’ is the perfect word for what I saw last year,” says Michael Bay. This year, he’ll release “Transformers: Age of Extinction” (June 27), a cast makeover for the franchise, and produce another reboot, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Aug. 8). A blockbuster veteran, he’s accustomed to the frenzied pressures of the season.

Box office will be the chief barometer of success for the nearly 50 wide releases to open between now and Labor Day in Hollywood’s yearly rite of superheroes, sequels and spectacle. It’s the time of year when Hollywood bets big on seemingly can’t-miss concepts that nevertheless occasionally miss.

While “The Amazing Spider Man,” “Godzilla” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” have already kicked off the season, there are more potential blockbusters, including the Clint Eastwood-directed musical “Jersey Boys” (June 20), the gun-toting gorilla tale “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (July 11), the demigod drama “Hercules” (July 25) and Marvel’s outer space adventure “Guardians of the Galaxy” (Aug. 1).

Indie charmer ‘Chef’

The steady drumbeat of high-decibel drama will leave little room for error.

“I’ve been the windshield and I’ve been the bug,” says Jon Favreau, the director of the widely popular “Iron Man,” as well as the less successful “Cowboys & Aliens.”

This summer, Favreau takes a break from tentpoles with “Chef “ (which had limited release in May but is still expanding), an independent film he wrote, directed and stars in about a big-name restaurant chef who loses his job and opens a food truck. For Favreau, it’s a happy hiatus from “the politics of marketing and release schedules.”

A bit of scandal

Unexpected events and swift changes in taste have a way of interrupting Hollywood’s increasingly finely planned release strategies. (Marvel president Kevin Feige recently said he’s plotted its movies through 2028.)

Marvel expands its own all-powerful universe with “Guardians of the Galaxy,” a more comical twist for the comics maker about a gang of oddballs in the farthest reaches of space. Chris Pratt, the “Parks and Recreation” actor, transforms to big-budget action movie star.

“It really felt like being drafted by a major league baseball team,” says Pratt, who was given a personal trainer and a private gym to prepare. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before in terms of their involvement with all of my preparation and just having a huge budget.”

In between the blockbusters, releases such as Seth MacFarlane’s “22 Jump Street” (June 13) will offer comic relief.

McCarthy and more laughs

There are few non-superhero certainties in the movies right now, but Melissa McCarthy is one of them. The star of “The Heat” and “Identity Thief” is virtually unparalleled in her ability to almost single-handedly open a movie. On July 2, she’ll debut “Tammy,” a road-trip comedy she wrote with her husband, Ben Falcone, who also directs.

“I feel like every day of my life I’ve been hit with the lucky stick,” says McCarthy. “There’s not a point where I’m like, ‘This seems normal.’ It’s all crazy. I’m crossing my fingers that it will continue as long as it will. I’m just going to hang on until there’s a turn in the universe."